Tape Method

As mentioned in my first post, there was another way to iron the beads. This is known as the tape method.

This method is very useful for three main reasons:

1- if you have too few pegboards you can reuse them and make bigger designs

2- if you care about your pegboards, this will stop damage on them

3- your projects are not going to come apart during ironing

To use the tape method you assemble your design normally on the pegboard, and when you would normally put the parchment paper on and iron, you put on painters tape - not invisible tape, not duct tape, painters- everything else leaves a sticky residue.

The hard part here is putting your tape on correctly- too loose and you'll have air bubbles, too right and it will curl and beads will fall.

After covering it all the way, press down on it and make sure no beads are loose. The next part is annoying, but needed. Take something like a pen, and poke holes through the centre of each bead on the taped side. If you don't do this there's a big change of heat getting trapped and your project warping. When you're completely finished, carefully flip it over, and iron normally.

Your project will be much more consistent with melting, so I definitely recommend this method.

What are Perler Beads?

Great question!

Perler beads, or any other kind of melty beads, are small tubes in various colors, that when ironed come together as a solid piece.

To assemble them you use a pegboard and place them in your design. When you're finished building on the board, you traditionally put wax or parchment paper on them and iron until they're fused. There are other methods of ironing and assembling that I'll go over later.

An average pegboard - 29x29, holding up to 841 beads

You can purchase them from your local craft store, such as Michaels- or order online for much cheaper. There are countless brands, and most are worthless. If you want a good project use either Perler or Hama- they tend to warp less, and not explode during ironing.

I find them fun to work with, and they make great decorations- and people love them as gifts!